Light field cameras or plenoptic cameras are ones that use an array of micro lenses to capture 4-dimensional light field information about a scene. This method of capture gathers a lot of information about the scene that a variety of computer vision and graphics applications can exploit. One such technique or effect presently rolled out by commercial plenoptic cameras is the ability to refocus an image that is already shot. Incidentally, the refocus effect as illustrated in FIG. 1 appears to be the sole selling point in contemporary commercial light field cameras. Alternatively light field cameras offer end-users the ability to shoot a given scene and then refocus into regions of their interest.
While the visual impact of the refocus effect is quite significant and it completely disrupts the photo shooting paradigm from a consumer's perspective, the means does not justify the ends. The refocus effect produced by these light field cameras that allows users to “shoot-now-and-focus-later”, as a key commercial aspect, does not necessarily require a plenoptic setup to be created. In other words, the same refocus effect can be simulated without using a plenoptic camera, i.e. by using a regular capture device like a digital camera.
Light field cameras offer end-users the ability to shoot a given scene and then refocus into regions of their interest. All solutions that provide this ability to refocus either require dedicated light field cameras or special auxiliary hardware or some form of hardware integration or manipulation. Further, such solutions are expensive and are not compatible with existing image capture devices/cameras and a new device or array of lenses/sensors would be required essentially to produce this refocus effect.
Although there have been attempts to simulate the refocus effect by using techniques that require some form of additional hardware, hardware add-ons or obtaining information from lower layer hardware devices (such as sensors) might not always be available. All these again compromise on cost or device compatibility. Any hardware solution or one that seeks hardware/sensor level information will be tied to a particular device or model. This would again necessitate the user to purchase that device or add-on to achieve the required refocus effect.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent upon reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.